Shuttle utilized for a circular loom

ABSTRACT

A shuttle utilized for producing a tubular fabric by a circular loom. The shuttle is provided with an improved structure for easily mounting on or dismounting from said circular loom. This shuttle is further provided with a plurality of guide wheels which ensure stable supporting said shuttle while driving along a guide means of said circular loom by a shuttle propelling mechanism.

DESCRIPTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to an improved shuttle utilized for a circularloom.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Recently, a circular loom has been recognized as one of the mostpractical weaving machines for producing so-called tubular fabric, whichis preferably used as a material-fabric for making a transportationcontainer or a storage container of granules, such as grains, sugarfertilizers and synthetic resin pelletes. As a practical circular loom,the circular loom disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,413 or a circularloom which has been manufactured and sold by the British Company,Fairbairn Lawson Machinery, Ltd. are well known.

In the above mentioned known circular looms, an even number of shuttlesare mounted on an annular shuttle guide member so that they can travelalong this guide member, and engaging means to be engaged withcorresponding shuttles, respectively, such as press rollers, are movedalong the shuttle guide member. Each shuttle is pressed by thecorresponding engaging means and is propelled along the shuttle guidemember. Wefts taken out from the respective shuttles are fabricated withwarps sequentially opened on both the upper and lower sides of therespective shuttles by healds, and a tubular fabric is thus formed.

In the circular loom, for an increase in the production-efficiency, itis required to use so-called large-package-bobbins. However, since it isobvious that, if the size of the yarn package becomes larger, the sizeof the shuttle becomes larger and the force of gravity and thecentrifugal force of the shuttle become larger in operation, stablesupport of a large shuttle on the annular shuttle guide member while theshuttle is travelling around the above mentioned shuttle guide member isrequired.

According to the experience of the inventors of the present invention,the shuttles utilized for the above-mentioned circular looms are notstably supported to the extent required for smooth operation and do noteliminate the trouble involved in the manual shuttle setting operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a shuttlehaving a mechanism for stably supporting the shuttle on the circularloom. It is another object of the present invention to provide a shuttlewhich can be easily handled manually at the time of shuttle settingoperation.

In accordance with the present invention, each shuttle is mounted on acircular loom in such a way that a shuttle is mounted at a positionbetween an annular guide member and an inside annular guide way, whichare arranged concentrically with each other, and guide elements arecapable of smoothly contacting with the annular guide member and insideannular guide way, respectively. In this shuttle, a main body of theshuttle is provided with a pair of brackets for rotatably supporting abobbin and a lever pivotably mounted on the main body. One of theabove-mentioned guide elements, which is capable of rotatably contactingthe inside annular guide way, is rotatably mounted on a free end portionof the lever. One of the ends of a connecting lever is pivoted on themain body and the other end thereof is turnably connected to the leverby a pin. To attain the primary object of the present invention, in theshuttle of the present invention, the above-mentioned guide elementscomprise lower outside wheels which are rotatably provided on the lowerpart of the main body and have a rotating axis inclined upwardly andoutwardly, respectively, when the shuttle is mounted on the circularloom. Also the outside wheels are supported by said annular guide memberin such a manner that said annular guide member bears the force ofgravity and the centrifugal force acting on the shuttle when the shuttleis driven by the shuttle propelling mechanism. To attain another objectof the present invention, a mechanism for adjusting the length of theconnecting lever is provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating one embodiment of a circularloom in which the shuttle of the present invention is utilized,

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating a schematic sectional view of themain part of the circular loom illustrated in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of a part of the side view illustratedin FIG. 2,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a part of the mechanism forsupporting a running shuttle according to the present invention,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view of another part of the mechanism forsupporting a running shuttle according to the present invention,

FIG. 6 is a side view of a shuttle according to the present invention,

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view of the shuttle illustrated in FIG.6,

FIG. 8A is a schematic front view of the shuttle illustrated in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8B is a partly omitted schematic plan view of the shuttleillustrated in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

For the purpose of clearly illustrating the shuttle of the presentinvention, an embodiment of a circular loom to which the shuttle of thepresent invention is applied will be described, with reference to FIGS.1 through 3, prior to entering into the description of the structure andeffect of the shuttle of the present invention.

In the circular loom 1 illustrated in FIG. 1, a main part 4 includingshed forming means and filling means is mounted within a frame 9, andthe shed forming means and filing means are driven by an electric motor5 disposed below the main part 4 through a first power transmissionmechanism (not shown). Tubular fabric take-out means 8 mounted on theframe 9 above the main part 4 is driven by a second transmissionmechanism (not shown) connected to the take-out means 8. Since thissecond power transmission mechanism is driven by the first transmissionmechanism through a driving transmission lever 11, the take-out means 8is driven while being kept synchronous with the main part 4. Warps 3, ina number necessary for weaving a desirable tubular fabric 2, are fedfrom a plurality of yarn packages 6a mounted rotatably on a pair ofcreels 6, which are disposed on both the sides of the main part 4symmetrically with each other with respect to the main part 4 (only onecreel 6 disposed on the right side is illustrated in FIG. 1). The warps3 are fed to the main part 4 through warp feed means 7. The tubularfabric 2 formed by the weaving operation in the main part 4 of thecircular loom 1 is upwardly taken out by the take-out means 8 and guidedto winding means (not shown) in a direction indicated by an arrow.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the main part 4 of the circular loom 1comprises: a vertical shaft 14; means for driving the shaft 14; a shedforming mechanism which is driven by a cylindrical cam mechanism 19mounted on the vertical shaft 14; an annular guide means 25 comprising apair of annular guide members 25a, 25b for guiding two pairs of wheels31a, 31b; 32a, 32b (see FIGS. 4, 6 and 8A, 8B) mounted on both sides ofa shuttle 30; a horizontal disc guide member 27 supported rotatably onthe top of the shaft 14; an inside annular guide means 29 (see FIG. 3)comprising an annular guide member 29a which is stationarily heldthrough an intermediate member 29b by supporting arms 24, with a slightclearance from the top end of the annular edge of the horizontal discguide member 27, so as to guide the tubular fabric 2, and; four shuttlepropelling mechanisms 23 fixed to a supporting member 22 secured to theshaft 14 at a position above the cam mechanism 19.

As illustrated in the drawings (FIGS. 1, 2 and 3), warps 3 are guidedfrom the creels 6 through guide rolls 7a of the feed means 7 rotatablysupported on arms 9a of the frame 9 and yarn guides 16, to yarn guideapertures formed on the top end portion of a dancing lever 17, and ashed 18 is formed by the shed forming mechanism 20. The shuttle 30propelled by the shuttle propelling mechanism 23 is inserted in thisshed 18 to weave the tubular fabric 2. The tubular fabric 2 is taken outupwardly (in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 2) through anannular clearance formed between the circular edge of the horizontalguide member 27 and the annular guide member 29a, while being guided bya fabric guide member 21. Then, the tubular fabric 2 is wound on a rollthrough the take-out means 8 (FIG. 1) by winding means (not shown).

Each shuttle 30 is provided with an identical structure and function,and therefore, the structure and function of only one of shuttles 30 ishereinafter explained.

Referring to FIGS. 6, 7, 8A and 8B, the shuttle 30 comprises: a mainbody 35 provided with a pair of brackets 42a, 42b projected upward fromthe main body 35; a guide wires 43 extending along the longitudinaldirection of the main body 35 at both sides thereof and spaced a uniformdistance from the main body 35; a lever 37 pivoted on the top endportion of the main body 35 by a pivot pin 39, and; a connecting lever38 pivoted on a top end portion of the bracket 42a by a pivot pin 44 andconnected to the lever 37 by a pivot pin 45. To hold a yarn package 46formed on a bobbon 47 by the shuttle 30, a pair of gripping members 49are mounted on the brackets 42a, 42b, respectively. One of grippingmembers 49 is capable of displacing into the bracket 42a, but is alwaysurged toward the bracket 42b by means of a helical expansion spring (notshown) disposed between the bracket 42a and the gripping member 49.

In the above-mentioned shuttle 30, another wheel 33 is rotatably mountedon the free end portion of the lever 37. An endless groove is formed onthe periphery of the wheel 33 to guide a weft 48 which is taken from theweft yarn package 46 held on the brackets 42a, 42b of the shuttle 30.The weft yarn 48 is introduced to the guide groove of the wheel 33through yarn guides 40, 41 mounted on the connecting lever 38, duringthe movement of the shuttle 30. The shuttle 30 is provided with a roller50 which is capable of always contacting a part of the shuttlepropelling means 23, (see FIGS. 2 and 3) and also an element 51 which iscapable of always keeping a breaking action against a bobbin forproviding an adequate yarn tension to the weft yarn 48. To attain thepurpose of the present invention, particular consideration must be givento the construction of the circular loom in relation to the constructionof the shuttle according to the present invention.

In the circular loom for which the shuttle of the present invention isutilized, an inside annular guide way is formed by the a bottom surfaceof the annular guide member 29a (see FIG. 5) and the inside annularsurface of the horizontal disc guide member 27 (see FIG. 5). This guideway stably guides the wheel 33 (see FIGS. 6, 7 and 8A) of the shuttle30. As illustrated in FIGS. 3, and 6 when the shuttle 30 is mounted onthe circular loom, the shuttle 30 is supported by the above-mentionedinside annular guide way and the annular guide means 25 in such acondition that the lever 37 and the connecting lever 38 are held in ahorizontal position. This holding condition is hereinafter referred toas a horizontal condition. To ensure more stable running of the wheel 33on the inside annular guide way, the inside annular surface of thehorizontal disc guide member 27 is provided with an inclined surface 27aas illustrated in FIG. 5, and therefore, the above-mentioned insideannular guide way has a similar function to that of a grooved guide way.

As mentioned above, since the shuttle 30 travels along the annular guidemechanism, that is, the inside annular guide way and the annular guidemeans 25, in the horizontal condition the condition of mounting thewheels 31a, 31b; 32a, 32b (see FIGS. 3, 4 and 8B) on the main body 35and the shape of the guide members 25a, 25b of the guide means 25 mustbe designed so as to attain the stable supporting which is one of theobjects of the present invention. Therefore, in the present invention,the guide member 25a (hereinafter referred to as an upper guide member)and the guide member 25b (hereinafter referred to as a lower guidemember) are each provided with inclined annular guide surfaces, as shownin FIG. 4, while the wheels 31a, 32a, which are capable of contactingthe upper guide member 25a in a rolling condition, are rotatably mountedon the frame shoe 35 in such condition that, when the shuttle 30 ismounted on the circular loom, the wheels 31a, 32a occupy the positionwhere the periphery of each wheels 31a, 32a is capable of smoothlycontacting the inclined annular surface of the upper guide member 25a.Consequently, plane X passing through the center of the wheels 31a, 32aand being vertical to the rotating axis Y thereof is preferablyperpendicular to the inclined guide surface of the upper guide member25a, as shown in FIG. 4. With regard to the other wheels 31b, 32b, thesame condition as that of the wheels 31a, 32a exists. Accordingly, whenthe shuttle 30 is mounted on the circular loom, according to the presentinvention, the axis Y of each upper wheel 31a, 32a is arranged in theradial direction and downwardly inclined by a certain angle outwardlywith respect to a horizontal plane as shown in FIG. 4. The axis Z ofeach lower wheel 31b, 32b is arranged in the radial direction andupwardly inclined by a certain angle outwardly with respect to ahorizontal plane as shown in FIG. 4.

In the above-mentioned condition, when the shuttle 30 is propelled bythe action of the propelling means 23, centrifugal force is generated.The force of gravity and the centrifugal force acting on the shuttle 30are supported mainly by the lower wheels 31b, 32b on the outer end ofthe shuttle 30. Since the axis Z of each wheel 31b, 32b is upwardlyinclined by a certain angle outwardly with respect to a horizontal planeand the guide surface of the guide member 25b is inclined in parallel tothe axis Z, the wheels 31b, 32b are capable of bearing the mayority ofthe force of gravity and the centrifugal force acting on the shuttle 30,while rolling on the guide surface of the guide member 25b smoothly andwithout any trouble. While it is true that a part of the force ofgravity acting on the shuttle 30 is borne by the wheel 33 on the innerend of the shuttle 30 and a part of the centrifugal force acting on theshuttle 30 is borne by the upper wheels 31a, 32a on the outer end of theshuttle 30, the a largest load is imposed on the lower wheels 31b, 32bdisposed on the outer end of the frame shoe 35 of the shuttle 30.

The warps 3 opened to both the upper and lower sides of the shuttle 30are introduced in the positions between the wheels 31a, 32a; 31b, 32band the guide members 25a, 25b, and between the wheel 33 and the insideannular guide way, respectively. Therefore, the warps 3 are preventedfrom being broken by rubbing contact with the shuttle 30.

Various modifications of the above-mentioned embodiment may be effected.The force of gravity and the centrifugal force of the shuttle 30 aremainly supported by the lower wheels 31b, 32b disposed on the frame shoe35 of the shuttle 30. Accordingly, the other supporting wheels 31a, 32a,33 may be omitted. Since only small loads are imposed on the supportingwheels 31a, 32a, 33, even if sliders are utilized instead of thesupporting wheels 31a, 32a, 33, and they are slid along the guidemembers 25a, 25b and the inside annular guide way, the weaving operationcan be performed conveniently without any trouble.

The contacting surface of the annular guide member 25B with which thewheels 31b, 32b having the inclined axis Z are engaged, need not beinclined as in the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modificationsthereof may be effected. For example, in a case where theabove-mentioned guide surface of the annular guide member has anL-shaped cross section, the outside wheels are engaged with both sidesof the guide surface with an L-shaped cross section.

To attain another object of the present invention, in the shuttleaccording to the present invention, a connecting lever 38 having anadjustable length is utilized. An embodiment of the adjustableconnecting lever 38 is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7. The connectinglever 38 included a turn buckle, that is, the connecting lever 38comprises a pair of sleeves 55a, 55b provided with threaded innercylindrical surfaces, respectively, wherein the spiral directions of thethreads are opposite to each other, and a bolt 56 having both threadedend portions engaged into the sleeves 55a, 55b, respectively. Asillustrated in FIG. 7, the sleeve 55a is pivotably connected to the topend portion of the bracket 42a by the pivot pin 44, while the sleeve 55bis pivotably connected to the lever 37 by the pivot pin 45. Accordingly,the length of the connecting lever 38 can be elongated or shortened byturning the bolt 56.

In the circular loom utilizing the shuttle having the above-mentionedstructure, when it is necessary to take out the shuttle 30 from theloom, because the shuttle was destroyed by some accident or anoperational condition must be changed, such as a changing of a fabricwidth, the bolt 56 is turned to shorten the length of the connectinglever 38. The lever 37 is turned about the pivot pin 39, at the frontend of the frame shoe 35 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 6when the length of the connecting lever 38 is shortened. This causes thewheel 33 on the inner end of the shuttle 30 mounted on the circular loomto be displaced outwardly in the radial direction of the circular loom1, that is, toward the frame shoe 35 of the shuttle 30 and drawn outfrom between the inner annular guide way formed by the horizontal discguide member 27 and the annular guide member 29. Accordingly, theshuttle 30 can easily be dismounted from the annular guide means 25 andthe above-mentioned annular guide way.

When it is required to mount a shuttle 30 having the above-mentionedstructure on the circular loom 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, inthe state where the length of the connecting lever 38 is shortened, thewheels 31a, 32a; 31b, 32b disposed on the frame shoe 35 of the shuttle30 are firstly engaged with the annular guide members 25a, 25b,respectively. The lever 37 is turned in the clockwise direction in FIG.6 by turning the bolt 56 so that the length of the connecting lever 38is elongated. Accordingly, the wheel 33 of the shuttle 30 is displacedinwardly in the radial direction of the circular loom 1, and is insertedinto the inner annular guide way formed between the horizontal discguide member 27 and the annular guide member 29 until it is in contactwith the above mentioned members. Accordingly, the shuttle 30 can stablybe supported by the above-mentioned inner annular guide way and theannular guide members 25a, 25b, since a stable triangle is formed by thethree points consisting of the connection point between the lever 37 andthe connecting lever 38, and the pivot pins 39 and 44 of the shuttle 30.

Incidentally, if the lever 37 is separably connected to the connectinglever 38 when it is required to mount the shuttle 30 on the circularloom, the lever 37 can be turned by separating the lever 37 from theconnecting lever 38. However, if a mechanism for elongating theshortening the length of the connecting lever 38 is not adopted, theposition of the wheel 33 cannot be minutely adjusted when the shuttle 30is supported. Accordingly, it is preferred that both a lever 37separably connected to the connecting lever 38 and a mechanism forelongating and shortening the length of the connecting lever 38 beadopted simultaneously. With regard to the mechanism for providing thefunction of adjusting the length of the connecting lever 38, any knownmechanism, such as a mechanism utilized for adjusting the lengths of thelegs of a tripod supporting a camera, can be satisfactorily applied tothe shuttle according to the present invention. As mentioned above,since the lever to which the inner wheel 33 is disposed is connected tothe telescopic connecting lever which can be elongated or to shorteneddisplace the wheel 33, the shuttle 30 can easily be mounted in thecircular loom, so that the shuttle can stably be supported by the insideannular guide way and the outside annular guide members and the primaryobject of the present invention effectively attained.

I claim:
 1. A shuttle for weaving a tubular fabric on a circular loomprovided with (i) means for guiding said shuttle during the weavingoperation, (ii) means for propelling said shuttle along said guidingmeans, said guiding means comprising an outside annular guide memberhaving a ring shaped guide surface provided with a center axis identicalto a central axis of said circular loom and an inside annular guide wayconcentrically formed about a central axis of said circular loom, saidshuttle comprising:a main body of the shuttle; a pair of bracketsprojected from said main body toward the inside of said shuttle; a firstlever rotatably mounted on a first pivot pin at a forward end portion ofsaid main body; a connecting lever rotatably mounted on one of saidbrackets located at a rear side of said main body by means of a secondpivot pin, said connecting lever being pivoted to said first lever; aninside guide wheel rotatably mounted on said first lever at a positionwhere said inside guide wheel is capable of engaging with said insideannular guide way when said shuttle is mounted on said circular loom;guide elements comprising lower outside wheels rotatably provided on alower part of said main body, each of said outside wheels having arotating axis inclined upwardly and outwardly when said shuttle ismounted on said circular loom, said outside wheels being supported bysaid annular guide member in such a manner that said annular guidemember bears the force of gravity and the centrifugal force acting onsaid shuttle when said shuttle is driven by said shuttle propellingmechanism; and means for holding a bobbin at a position between saidbrackets and guide elements and capable of smoothly contacting saidannular guide member and inside annular guide way.
 2. A shuttleaccording to claim 1, wherein said axes of said outside wheels areparallel to said ring shaped guide surface of said annular guide memberinclined inwardly.
 3. A shuttle according to claim 1, further comprisingupper outside wheels rotatably provided on upper parts of main body,said upper outside wheels being contact with another outside annularguide member of the circular loom.
 4. A shuttle according to claim 1,wherein the lower and upper outside wheels are respectively urged to thecorresponding outside annular guide members.
 5. A shuttle according toclaim 1, wherein said second lever is provided with a mechanism forchanging the length thereof.
 6. A shuttle according to claim 5, whereinsaid mechanism is a turnbuckle.